This weekend in Seattle was positively GORGEOUS, so we spent the day outside.  Around 5p we found ourselves hungry but not wanting to go home yet, so we headed to our old favorite, Tilth.  I cannot say enough good things about this place, you really can’t go wrong with anything on their menu.  Ask the staff for suggestions, they all know their stuff and they are all wonderfully enthusiastic about the food.  The thing that I really love about this place is that they are hardcore about being sustainable, local, and in season.  You will never see the words “all natural” next to any beef item on their menu (AHEM, I’m looking at you, CANLIS – which, by the way, I’ve decided that I really don’t like you.)  The words you see next to beef items at Tilth are only ever “grass fed.”

We did not get the tasting menu this time and let me just stop for a moment and say this:  There was a family sitting behind us, that consisted of a couple and their daughter (about 10, maybe?)  They attempted to order the Chef’s Tasting menu, but the wife was being a royal bitch and tried to substitute a million things.  It’s called A CHEF TASTING MENU.  You order it as is.  You order it because the Chef took time to put a lovely menu together.  Substituting one thing is acceptable (annoying, I think, but acceptable.)  Substituting several things is not.  Don’t get the menu then.  Order a la carte and shut the hell up.  I’m sad that Tilth wound up caving in to this woman.  But for all of you out there – take heed.  NO SUBSTITUTING.

Moving on.

Felix was with us, as usual.  The kid has already sat through two three-hour tasting menus with us, so a dinner in this atmosphere is no problem.  He has never eaten fast food, but you know what he does eat?  He eats what we eat.  He ate quite a bit of everything.  Steak tartare, Sablefish, Pork confit, Brussel Sprouts… Sorry, but I just don’t see him turning into all that picky of an eater.  You know why?  Because he sees how much we love and enjoy food and we don’t act like it’s an ordeal to offer him steak tartare.

So.  Phenomenal meal, as always:

First, the complimentary amuse bouche – I forget the entire description, but it’s a tomato gelée and I did catch something about fennel.  (And yes, Felix ate his, too!)

We chose to get Grass Fed Steak Tartare with cornichon, caper, and watercress as an appetizer:

I got Seared Alaskan Sablefish with potato pavé, black garlic, and meyer lemon:

This was one of the best fish dishes that I have ever had.  (That’s foam on the plate – which I don’t like, only because I can’t think of anything but spit, anytime I see it.  But it didn’t detract from the dish, it was that good. I think Felix wound up eating about a third of this. He even preferred the fish over the potato.)

Chris got a pork belly confit dish.  It was the special of the evening and not on the menu, so I can’t remember the exact description, unfortunately. It included apple.  I’m not a huge fan of pork (aside from, you know… bacon) but this was tasty.  Chris loved it and again, Felix ate quite a few bites.

Then we got the side of  Brussel Sprouts gremolata, almond, olive oil because we all love brussel sprouts.  We made Felix share:

Chris had a glass of Riesling and … I had… um… yeah.  See what happens when I don’t take meticulous notes throughout dinner?  Chris thinks I had a Pinto Gris.  Maybe.  It was white, cold, and good – that’s about all I can tell you about my wine.

And, of course, there was the usual bread and house made butter.  I live for their house made butter.  I am spoiled by their house made butter – every time we go somewhere new, I always judge against my House Made Butter standard.  Woe is them if they say “no” when I ask if they make their own butter.

After dinner, we chose The Northwest Artisanal Cheese Plate.  We got 4 cheeses (because we couldn’t decide between 3 or 5.)  They were all wonderful – but the ones that stood out were the Chevre and Cowgirl Creamery’s Red Hawk cheeses.  The Chevre stood out  because it’s accompaniment was truffle honey – the combination was sublime.  The Red Hawk stood out because we were told that it was “pungent” and hoo boy! was it ever! I remarked that, “I can’t believe I’d be excited to eat something that smells like this.”  Certainly not the stinkiest of cheese out there, but yes, it was quite pungent.  The scent lingered on my fingers long after it was gone.  Of course, it didn’t taste like it smelled – it was lovely and I plan on making a trip to Calf & Kid to see if they carry it.

We each got a glass of their house made limoncello after dinner, as well.  We had it once before, in the Fall, when our server suggested it along with giving us a detailed description of how it was made.  I don’t usually go for things like Limoncello, but Tilth’s drink is so yummy.

He is, truly, the perfect dinner companion.

36 isn’t the momentous of years, it’s not a “5″ or a “0″ to be marked like, say… 40 (as Husband is turning in a couple of weeks.)  But it feels momentous – it was the first age that I felt a little strange about.  30 was nothing, I was actually looking forward to turning 30 during my last few years in my 20s.  35, couldn’t have cared less.  But for about 2 days, I tiptoed warily around the idea of turning 36.

And then I got over it.

This year is just particularly “momentous” because there’s so much going on.  Felix starts preschool in a few weeks (Heartbreaking! Exciting!), then *I* start school a month or so after that.  I’m making a big leap to officially change careers (to whole foods nutrition and culinary arts.)  All the shaking and rattling that’s been going on for the past… oh, 20 years… I feel like my contents are finally starting to settle.  Oh, and this year – THIS YEAR – Husband and I are finally making The Trip together.  It’s a trip that we talked about, only days after we met.  We’d sat at the Wise Bean in Bethlehem, three days after meeting – we were tired, a little hung over, and chugging coffee.  We talked about our mutual love of Holland and he said, “Let’s go together, in the Spring!”  Well, that was back in November ’07.  Spring ’08 has long since come and gone, but we are finally going together.

Oh my, how things change.  Sometimes I wonder, “what if” – what if I’d gone to college and finished in a normal time frame, what if I’d started traveling earlier, what if I’d been smarter about making decisions, what if I’d gotten myself out of shitty situations immediately… not “what if” so much but just a casual “I wonder.”  But I don’t wonder too hard because I really don’t have any complaints about today, ya know?

But my, how you’ve grown.  And my, how things change.

Sadly, this is the only darned picture I can track down from 10 years ago. 2002, my 26th birthday.

I’m pretty sure this is an ’03 picture. Crazy ass long hair.

I have this labeled as 2008, but this is NOT 2008. I'm thinking early '04

Also, I believe, '04. And see? THE JELLY BRACELETS.

Sept 04

December '06, in the Czech Republic

My 30th birthday celebration, in Prague - I LOVED that cafe and I'll be damned if I can remember the name of it now. I had this "thing" then, that involved pigtails and no makeup except for lipstick. All the time.

February '07, in Prague. Caught in the middle of making some sort of face. And PIGTAILS!

Also from 2007 - because I am also making a face. 2007 must have been the year of Face Making.

Ok, also from 2007 - but THIS is October 2007. I was back in the States. And I'd just gotten this tattoo - a "trisula", the tines of which represent "past, present, and future" or "creation, maintenance, and destruction." Apropos.

August 2008 in Wisconsin (with Chris's family)

Also 2008, Thanksgiving - we went to Palm Springs & Joshua Tree.

2009. Not pregnant. Though I am not really sure what's going on with the front of my shirt there?

2009 - Pregnant!

2010 - have a baby crawling around!

2011 - the year I shall henceforth know as The Year I Made a Valiant Effort to Grow Out My Bangs but then gave up and decided to just commit to bangs, forever and ever.

Today! Literally! Exceptional change from all other photos - the kid in the background, yeah? I must say, I think I'm aging ok. And see? I have committed to the bangs.

I gotta say, 36 is looking pretty good so far.  Yeah?  Yeah.

I’ve been debating whether or not to talk about this, but what the hell.  I would love to hear about others’ experiences with the matter and perhaps offer some insight or help for anyone else wanting do to the same.

This past Monday, I finally made an appointment with a plastic surgeon to see about the breast reduction I’ve wanted since I was 17 years old.

When I was a teenager, I had double-D’s. I carried a few extra pounds, but nobody really saw anything besides my boobs.  I remember sitting in a diner, with a friend, and sticking cutlery down the front of my shirt to make a couple of men aware that *I* was aware that they were zeroed in on them.  At 17, I made an appointment with a plastic surgeon to see about a reduction.  I wanted to do it, I was going to do it… and then I don’t know why I did.  I think I just got cold feet.

Then I lost weight, quite a bit, and they went down to full C’s.  They were more manageable and I didn’t mind them so much – clothing was more comfortable and I could find bras that fit.  I didn’t even mind going bra-less occasionally.

Man, I miss those C’s…

The hovered on the verge of D’s, as I got older, and the discomfort was manageable.  Or at least, ignore-able.

But then I got pregnant.  And they went up.  And up.  I remember the day “my milk came in” – it was a nightmare.  I felt like a porn star, and not in a good way.  I was bordering on an E-cup for a few months but they leveled back out to DD.

Then I stopped all the pumping and I lost all the pregnancy weight.  I waited.  And I waited.  A year after all of the pumping and feeding was done,  all my old (pre-pregnancy) clothes are even a little too big but I am still a double D.  They are not budging.

While I never attributed all of my chronic back pain to my boobs, I do know that my neck hurts more, depending on the bra that I wear.  I can always feel the straps of my bras digging in and pulling my shoulders down.  I have been to chiropractors, massage therapists and lastly, acupuncture.  I got my very own acupuncture-cupping set at home because it’s the only thing that offers (temporary) relief to my neck pain and knots.  I am now wearing bras with up to 4 hooks.  I put up with it.  But then I got really hooked on yoga.  I get rashes and chafing around my ribs while doing chatturangas, no matter what bra I wear, from my arm rubbing against my side.  I feel like a freak in plow and can barely breathe because I’m being suffocated by my own boobs.  Laying on my stomach hurts.  In shoulder stand, I can barely see past my own chest.  Certain twists and poses are difficult because they get in the way.  I am constantly fidgeting and tugging at my bras and shirts.  Luckily, I am not very self conscious about visible cleavage because I have plenty on display during yoga classes.

I look like I weigh 10 lbs more than I do (I’m actually fairly small.)   My shoulder straps are always digging in.  It’s hard to find clothes that fit me correctly and I almost never wear dresses because I look pregnant in all of them (thanks to the boobs.)  I despise summer because I am always stuck in massive, tight bras that don’t breathe very well, the pools of sweat that drip from under my bra are just gross,  and my most consuming fantasy, at this point, is of wearing a sleeveless dress on a hot day.

I am miserable and I’ve finally had enough.  I’ve been looking for plastic surgeons for a few months, but they all scare me.  I’m sure they’re quite good, but they all manage to look like a bunch of skeevy looking old men, some of whom have had too much work done on their own faces.  And then, this past weekend, I came across one that I hadn’t seen before.  SHE was a woman and her office looked more like a spa than a plastic surgery office.  I did some more research and found rave reviews.  On Monday, I made an appointment.  Between Monday and today, I made the mistake of googling “breast reduction and insurance” nonstop (along with googling before and afters and saving all the “after” photos I liked best) and my hopes fell crashing to the ground.  While we have good insurance, I figured there was no way I’d be approved.  Especially since, from looking at me, you probably wouldn’t suspect what I was hiding under my shirt.  Strangely, they conceal pretty well, even with all the fitted shirts I wear.

So this morning I had my appointment and I am buoyed by hope.  This particular plastic surgeon has an amazing office that looks more like a spa, she and her staff are all very warm & friendly and about as NON plastic surgeon-ish as they can get.  I can get letters from my acupuncturist, my chiropractor, a massage therapist that I saw a few times, and a yoga instructor to support the idea that my life & health would be improved by having this surgery.  I would have around 400 grams removed from each (which actually isn’t as much as I thought, based on the pictures that I saw) and was told that for around 400 g or more, they’re usually approved.  Also on my side is that my BMI is fine, I’m actually quite small, and I am in great health.  We also have damn good insurance right now.

Over the next few weeks, I will be gathering letters, as well as writing my own in my own defense.  I was told that I should still expect to be a C or even a D because they need to keep a certain amount of fat to reattach everything and keep your… ahem, nipple alive.  I’m not thrilled about the idea of still being a D (I’m shooting for a small to medium C) but at this point, anything will be better.

I am full of hope but trying not to be too excited, I have another couple weeks until we’ll even submit to insurance and then about 4 weeks after that until we get an answer.  I’m told there could even be a bidding war (the doctor will say “we need to remove 400g and insurance will say, “NO, we think 500″ and the doctor will say “425″ and insurance will say “450″.)  Crazy, huh?  I am too excited about the possibility  to rant about how fucked up that is.  Right now, I want the insurance company to be my best friend and I will say anything to make them like me.

The type of thing we eat for dinner around here:

Once a week, we have Chris’s favorite – a roasted, pastured chicken (we eat nothing but pastured, free range chicken around here.)  Rinse the chicken inside and out, dry it well.  Truss it up tightly, but before you do – a bit of salt & pepper on the inside.  Then rain a good amount of salt and pepper all over the chicken (for extra tasty, crunchy skin) and roast for however long it needs (ours usually takes about an hour to an hour and fifteen.)  Lately, I’ve been sprinkling a bit of sage powder and Herbs d’ Provence inside & out, as well as adding a pat of butter on top.  Wow.  This chicken went from a delicious favorite to downright divine.  Yes, we eat the skin.  Firstly, I believe in fat.  Secondly – if you care about such things, ”A 12-ounce bone-in, skin-on chicken breast half contains just 2.5 grams of saturated fat and 50 calories more than its similarly portioned skinless counterpart.”  And my roasted, skin on chicken is about 500% more enjoyable than your crappy little grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast.

So there.

A big ol’ heaping pile of Farmer’s Market mashed potatoes (with most of the skin on and mashed in), with sea salt, pepper and a big, lovely pond of golden, pastured butter.  Because there are some hugely beneficial nutrients in pastured butter. Plus, it is YUMMY.

And then, my favorite salad in the entire universe, which I could happily eat every day, for the rest of my life: raw kale salad.  This is how you do it.

First, mash a clove (or half a clove, but I love garlic) with a quarter teaspoon of salt.  Smash it into a fragrant, garlicky paste.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a bowl.

Whisk the a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a couple pinches of red pepper flakes (I like it spicy, so I add more) into the lemon juice.

Then mix in a couple handfuls of grated/shredded parmesan cheese (buy a block of parm and grate it yourself, freshly, please).

Take a lovely, big bunch of lacinto kale (I guess any kind of kale would work, but this one is the best) and chop it into thin strips (chiffonade).

Toss the kale with the dressing, mix very well so that all the kale is coated – put in to bowls, top with a bit more parmesan and ENJOY.

Just a few more things to ponder, regarding the (crappy) low/skim milk debate (or just milk in general, really):

I am, as you might know, a supporter of raw milk.  It’s all we drink in this house.  My son drinks three glasses a day (he LOVES his milk).  When we had trouble with breastfeeding, I supplemented with raw goat milk from a local farm (with my naturopath pediatrician’s approval and help) instead of formula.  When I couldn’t pump anymore, he was 100% raw goat milk.  Now he is a robust, super healthy, smarter than average 2 year old.  Very active, not the slightest bit over or underweight.  The raw milk that we get is a small, local operation (truth be told, I’m really not interested in large scale raw milk, nor large scale any food.)  While the raw milk debate rages on, at the very least, I can try to convince people to avoid the ULTRA pasteurized stuff.

When I lived in Prague, one of the running jokes among us expats had to do with the mysterious boxes of “milk” stacked far, far away from the refrigerated section.  I didn’t know as much about milk, pasteurization, or food in general, then, but that milk scared me.  I drank it occasionally, but it always seemed strange.  Unfortunately, I forget the Czech wording on the boxes, but it equated with “super super pasteurized.”  Again, it was not refrigerated.  Here, in the States, we also have ultra pasteurized milk, but it is refrigerated.  It doesn’t need to be, as it’s a dead food and will pretty much never ever spoil.  It is completely destroyed by this ultra pasteurization and they add synthetic vitamins back into the milk later.  IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED – but no one here will buy it if it’s not, because then it might give itself away as the creepy non food thing that it is.  The ONLY reason they ultra pasteurize (heat it at even higher heat than normal) is to extend the shelf life.  That equates to “more money for the company that made it.”  Read your labels and avoid ULTRA pasteurized like the plague.

Another point: Low fat diets are linked to fertility problems.  Whereas:

Intake of high-fat dairy products is linked with a lower risk for anovulatory infertility, whereas low-fat dairy foods increased the risk for this condition, according to the results of a prospective study of healthy women reported in the February 28 Advance Access issue of Human Reproduction.

We have seen a rise in people buying the low fat line and eating tons of low fat “yogurt” and milk and we have also seen a drastic increase in fertility issues, yes?

Another point: People drink milk for the vitamins.  Vitamin A and vitamin D are fat soluble vitamins.  As is vitamin K.  Have you ever looked at a container of low fat or skim milk and noticed the little words “with vitamin A & D added”?  Why would you add vitamins that already exist in a food?  OOOOOOOOH, right.  They removed the fat.  But guess what, those are now synthetic vitamins and the milk is low fat so your body isn’t going to get the full benefits.  Let me tell you something: I live in Seattle.  I got a physical, right after Winter, I believe, and my vitamin D levels are fine.  As are my son’s.  (My husband hasn’t had a physical yet, but I suspect he’ll be fine.)  We drink whole (raw) milk and spend a good amount of time outside during summer.  (I also use a lot of butter and we have Greek yogurt in our smoothies every morning.  Cholesterol = fine.  Weight = fine.  In fact, my weight is the most stable it’s ever been and I can easily drop another 5 lbs if I give up my pastry habit.)  Those good vitamins are found IN THE CREAM of the milk.

You also absorb more calcium from WHOLE milk, which… guess what, helps you lose weight.

AND there’s these things called glycosphingolipids.  They help you avoid gastrointestinal infections. It’s been shown that kids who drink skim get diarrhea 3-5 times more often than those that drink their milk WHOLE.

Then there’s the whole “eat less animal products” thing.  Dairy actually does not equate with red meat.  The line, back in 1977, was going to be “eat less red meat.”  The meat industry got all huffy and made them say “eat less fat.”  Dairy fat is a very different animal than red meat.  (And I love my read meat, but, you know… in moderation.)

The point is: milk is worthless if you’re going to drink it without it’s fat.  Oh, yes, yes it is.  That’s like eating… dark, leafy greens without all the things that make them dark and leafy.

I’d like to say, fine – you eat your way and I’ll eat mine, except that they’re forcing this stuff on kids and perpetuating the low fat myth.  Do your research.  Look around you at the people who drink whole milk and eat real butter (ours is half pastured butter.)  The thing is, we don’t JUST eat dairy.  We eat a ton of vegetables.  We don’t eat junk food.  We don’t drink soda (diet or otherwise.)  We don’t eat fast food.  Dairy is a special thing.  Just remember – your life, form the moment you’re born, starts out with dairy. (Well, it’s meant to, anyway.)

I posted something a few days ago, which I am going to repeat at the start of this post. Read it, remember it, mull it over:

** True story: The reason that most of you out there think you need to eat low-fat everything is all due to greed and marketing. I’m not kidding. In 1977 The Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs was about to recommend that Americans eat LESS meat. Because even I, a lover of carnivorous foods, knows that an OVERABUNDANCE of meat is not good for you and Americans were eating A LOT of it (still are, to a disgusting degree). However, the meat lobby did not like this, so they laid on the pressure and what came out instead was the bullsh*t line about limiting and avoiding fat, in general. (Eat lots of lean meat! Just avoid fat!) Do you ever wonder why Americans have been trying this low fat thing for so long and yet getting fatter & sicker, as a whole? Do you ever wonder why those of us who preach about whole food are pretty health and not generally overweight? Most of the things that people believe about food are nothing but a result of heavy marketing & lobbyists.

Today, on Grist.com, I read an article about the USDA’s new school rules, which I apparently should be cheering about.  I was cheering, with hesitation (because, let’s face it – the USDA and the government will never get the food thing entirely right nor without bad influence) and then I got to this part:

• Offering only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties (flavored must be fat-free)

It has been… oh, about 8 hours since I read this and I am still in an angry rampage.  I’m not going to get too technical (confession: I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine, I am now a lightweight, I am a bit under the influences so coherent thought is quite enough, let alone trying to spew technical data about how the body works) – so let me just say this:  Fat is vital to brain development and many other functions.  For children to thrive, they need fat – good fat like the stuff found in whole milk (or the avocados that my son snarfed down at lunch.)  Children will survive, almost regardless of what they eat because children are not so fragile, but they will not THRIVE.  My kid, he’s thriving.  He’s thriving because he is part of a family that eats real food, who’s parents never eat processed foods and junk like chips, because we don’t eat at McDonald’s or give him juice boxes.  (He eats actual fruit.  Organic fruit with the skin on – for fiber – whenever applicable.)  Because he is completely mad about his milk and drinks 3 glasses of whole (raw) milk each day.  Because I cook with olive oil and coconut oil and real butter.  Look, I’ll leave the raw milk argument alone for now, but goddamn it, I am not leaving the whole versus low fat thing alone, ever.

Adults need to eat whole fats, too, but I shudder and die a little inside every time I hear someone suggest that a pregnant woman or a child should consume low fat.  Those are, to me, the two most important groups to never ever ever ever eat low or no fat anything.

Whatever, the author is just summarizing the new rules, right?  Well, no, then she added her own fine little point:

…And in one fell swoop, the USDA has eliminated full fat and 2 percent milk from school meals — high-fat beverages that our increasingly overweight children don’t need. The USDA has provided a sample before and after elementary school menu.”

Oh, Nancy Huehnergarth, now I’m looking at you.

Nancy Huehnergarth is the co-founder and executive director of the New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance(NYSHEPA), a statewide coalition dedicated to improving policies and practices that promote healthy eating and physical activity. NYSHEPA advocates at the local, state, and federal level for a variety of nutrition and physical activity measures.

Hm.  Not a nutritionist and certainly not up with the latest research and debunking of the big, fat low fat lie.  Read up on the latest research, Nancy.  Read about the Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial of 1978, for starters.  FOR STARTERS.

Or, better yet, how about you just just take a look around you, at a nation full of people that have been dutifully falling in line with the bullsh*t low fat line for a very, very long time and yet are getting fatter and sicker.  Low fat, yeah?

Then, take a look at all of us whole food purist fanatics.  Those of us that don’t let “low fat” anywhere near our homes.  How many of us are obese, overweight or riddled with health problems?

Let’s talk about the “low fat yogurt” loaded with flavoring and sugar and other chemicals that has more sugar and more calories than the same size serving of ice cream.

Let’s talk about how many health problems that crap, margarine, has now been proven to cause – OH! something that someone pointed out (in the comments on that Grist article) is that margarine is included on one of the menus.  Margarine.  MARGARINE.  Margarine.  Margarine.  For children.

*smacking head on table*

But wait, did you notice this bullet point in the new USDA food rules for school lunches?:

• Reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats, and sodium.

Margarine = trans fats.

Anyway. Wait, let’s tear one more apart:

• Increasing offerings of whole grain-rich foods — half the grains must be whole grain-rich by July and all must be whole grain-rich by start of the school year in 2014

This is a tricky one.  You see, people go to the store and they buy the bread with the “whole grain” words splashed across the package because in between all this low fat mumbo jumbo, they’ve been hearing about how they should eat “whole grains.”  The bread we eat, in my home, is actually whole grain.  I buy it from a local bakery and it has about 3 ingredients (not including all the different types of seeds).  The “whole grain” bread you buy at the grocery store – take a look at the label.  It probably has about 15 ingredients, high fructose corn syrup*, and MOSTLY not “whole grain” but just enough to be able to splash that on the label because it’s one of the latest “fads.”  I suspect that schools’ version of “whole grains” will be closer to the grocery store type of whole grain.

Mmhmm.  So I’m not so happy about these new food rules, after all.  I’ll be happy when the Big Food lobbyists no longer have a say about the latest health fads & rules, when the USDA and FDA get their heads out of their asses (or rather, out of Big Food’s asses, or is it the other way around?), when nutritionists and these so-called “healthy eating” advocates stop spewing old lines that just aren’t true and lines that are swallowed whole without them ever bothering to do their own poking around.

*Or not, because the latest fad is hating on High Fructose Corn Syrup – which is actually a good thing, except that Big Food is taking advantage of this by splashing “NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!” all over their packaging.  Which, again, good – because you should seriously avoid HFCS but just because something says “NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!” doesn’t mean that it’s good for you, or that you shouldn’t still read the label, or that it isn’t still loaded with preservatives and chemicals and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many ingredients.

** Did I mention I’ve had a couple glasses of wine and am a lightweight, these days?  I fully stand behind everything I said here but if this post is all rambling and full of typos, there you go.   Just wait until I have that Nutrition degree in my hand, man.  Then I’m really going to get loud.

“My actions are my only true belongings.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

I am still a supporter of Obama, I will still be casting a hearty vote for him in 2012. I would do so, even if all the Republican candidates were not either terrifying, batshit crazy, a joke, or all of the above.

I didn’t listen to the State of the Union address (because, confession, I’ve never watched any of those things from any president), but I’ve been reading reports on it. The latest, yet another example of some of the progress he’s made (and yes, I know there’s still a long way to go, but it’s a start in the right direction):

Last night, President Obama delivered his third State of the Union address, describing accomplishments and challenges facing his Presidency and the nation. Earlier this month, and garnering much less attention, the administration released an accounting of its efforts to reduce healthcare inequality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, and challenges still to be tackled.

Among the accomplishments, HHS Secretary Sebelius lists the development of an Institute of Medicine report on LGBT health, a rule requiring hospitals to accept patients’ wishes for who can visit them “regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other non-clinical factor,” inclusion for the first time of LGBT health concerns in the nation’s Healthy People goals, anti-bullying efforts, and policies and funds to encourage shelters for homeless young people to be properly equipped to provide services to LGBT youth.

Read full post from Our Bodies, Ourselves blog.

Tickets for Miike Snow, in Seattle, went on sale at 10a this morning.  I scored orchestra seats – and I’m pretty sure I was the very first person to buy tickets here, I was clicking refresh every 10 seconds from 9:55am.

Then I found out that they got Lykke Li (with whom I am equally obsessed) to do some vocals on one of the songs on their upcoming album.  I am truly starting to suspect that I must still be asleep and dreaming all of this.

Miike Snow – Black Tin Box (Feat. Lykke Li) by Ernestime

And another song that they released today:

Paddling Out by miikesnow

It’s a snow day, so we’re creating our own entertainment.

(My kid, is he a heartbreaker, or what?)